Mohammed

Mohammed is 42 years old, a married man, and has three adult children. His educational background is secondary school and he lives in Sana`a, Yemen. He is hard-working and determined and does not fear challenges. He has been operating a spice store. He began this business more than six years ago, using some of his own capital.

Mohammed feels that his business is reasonably profitable because of the earnings that it gives him since he generally sells everything that he has to offer. Currently, his store has a small quantity of products on the shelves, but he does not have sufficient money to purchase more items from his suppliers.

He took out a loan of 200,000 YER from AMB that will enable him to buy basic household goods such as sauces, beans, spices, seasoning, rice, cooking oil, and sugar and stock his business. He hopes that with the purchase of these products his store will have a larger quantity of items to offer and in this way he will be able to meet his customers’ demand. In the future, Mohammed dreams that his family will have a better quality of life and in addition, he will be able to expand his business which will qualify him to get more profit.

Additional Information

About Al-Amal Microfinance Bank

Al-Amal reaches out to low-income micro-entrepreneurs and small business owners in Yemen with a suite of credit, savings, and insurance products tailored for Muslim borrowers. Before lending through Al-Amal, please consider the following:

1) Due to ongoing security concerns, full due-diligence of Al-Amal was conducted remotely rather than on-site. This makes Al-Amal atypical among Kiva's Field Partners, as Kiva staff have not conducted an on-site assessment. Al-Amal's assessment included in-person meetings with the top management in other, more secure locations in the Middle East.

2) Because Yemen is a new and unstable environment, there is a possibility that future loan repayments could be held indefinitely in the country for regulatory reasons, even if individual borrowers pay back their loans. As a lender to borrowers in Yemen, you accept this additional risk.

Additionally, all of Al-Amal's products are Sharia compliant and customized for its Muslim clients. Most of the loans are structured as Murabaha interest free loans. Al-Amal purchases goods for its borrowers and charges them a markup or fee. Al-Amal is also experimenting with Ijarah loans (an Islamic leasing product). For more information on Islamic microfinance, please click here.